[blml] Revoke established?

[Adam Beneschan]

Ed wrote:
 
> On Jul 4, 2006, at 11:13 AM, Sinot Martin wrote:
> 
> > My experience is that when dummy plays a card without a command from
> > declarer, it is usually a long standing habit of the pair. Therefore I
> > would rule that declarer gave a silent command to play the  
> > singleton, hence
> > the singleton be played, and the revoke established. Next time, dummy
> > will think twice before playing cards on his own.
> 
> Seems to me that our job as directors is to determine the facts, not  
> make assumptions. At least, not to make them when the facts *can* be  
> determined.
> 
> A better ruling, IMO, would be to rule the revoke not established,  
> but give the declaring side a PP for dummy's failure to observe laws  
> 42A3, 43A1(c), and 45B.

Actually, I think the PP might be a bit harsh, at least around where I
play.  Unfortunately, although dummy is violating the law by playing
the singleton without instruction, it's a violation that causes no
problem 99.9999999% of the time.  In fact, besides the situation that
started this thread (the likes of which I've never personally seen), I
can't even think of a problem it would cause, other than at trick 1.
So there's never been any incentive for the ACBL or anyone else to
make sure that players are aware of this rule and follow it.  In this
situation, to suddenly assess a penalty for an illegal practice that
the ACBL and other organizations (and other players in general)
tolerate and have made no attempt to educate players on, and that
almost never causes a problem, doesn't seem just.

(I think trick 1 is an exception.  When dummy comes down, declarer
needs time to study it and play the play.  If dummy plays a singleton
too quickly, and third hand plays quickly, and declarer is still
forming a plan, he may feel forced to play from hand quickly or give
the impression that he had a problem on that particular trick.  Thus,
while I prefer my partners not to play singletons from dummy without
my instruction anyway, I feel especially strongly about this at the
first trick.)

                                -- Adam